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Thursday, November 3, 2016

Claxton second graders showed the audience at this fall's Lake Eden Arts Festival ("LEAF") what arts integration is all about when they performed with West African musician Arouna Diarra and the AZA Band.Diarra grew up in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, an arts-rich community. He plays the n'goni and balafon and performs with Biko Cassini and Jessie Lehman, who also participated in the residency.

The three musicians taught second graders about West African musical traditions, including the call-and-response you can see in their rehearsal video here:

In this Mountain XPressinterview, they talk about how they teach kids and about their work with LEAF in Schools and Streets.

The residency culminated in a performance at LEAF!

Many thanks to Mr. Butler for arranging the residency and partially funding it from his music budget. And thank you to the Claxton PTO, who provided additional funding through its teacher mini-grant program. We are so lucky to have a community that provides our students with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like this one!